KARACHI – Pakistan Navy Monday commissioned the first Chinese-made 054Alpha Guided Missile Frigate PNS Tughril.
The commissioning ceremony was held in Shanghai, China’s financial hub. Itwas attended by the Ambassador of Pakistan to China, Moin ul Haq as chiefguest.
PNS TUGHRIL is a technologically advanced ship equipped withstate-of-the-art sensors and weapons, said an official statement.
“The ship is capable of enormous firepower & surveillance potentials.Construction of PN Ship at China is testimony of Pak-China all-weatherfriendship,” read the Pakistan Navy statement.
The type 054 A/P Frigate is said to be the third Pakistan Navy warship tohold the name PNS Tughril after an O-Class Destroyer (1951) and aGearing-Class Destroyer (1980).
The Tughril class ships are major surface combatant warships, designed forintense anti-air, anti-surface, and anti-submarine operations in the highseas.
The over 4,000 tonnes, 440 feet long frigates are armed with a 32-cellVertical Launch System (VLS), equipped with the HHQ-16 SAMs and the Yu-8ASROCs, 2×4 ASCM launchers armed with the CM-302 supersonic anti-shipcruise missiles, a PJ-26 76 mm main naval gun, 2×3 Anti-Submarine Torpedolaunchers, 2×6 Type 87 Anti-Submarine rocket launchers, two Type 726-418-tube decoy rocket launchers and two Type 1130 CIWS.
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It is also loaded with multifunction electronically scanned array radar ontop of the main superstructure.
The warship also featured a top-notch combat management system capable ofintegrated naval battlegroup formation operations with the rest of thePakistani naval fleet.
Induction of these frigates will contribute in maintaining peace,stability, and power equilibrium in the Indian Ocean Region.
Pakistan Navy has contracted the construction of Type 054 AP Frigates fromChina under a contract signed in 2017. The first–in–class Frigate waslaunched in August 2020, followed by Second Frigate Launching in January2021 at Chinese Hudong Zhonghua Shipyard in Shanghai.
